


Next Time We Meet

by TidalDragon



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Crisis of confidence, Even When You Win You Lose, F/M, Pokemon XYZ - Freeform, Rare Pairings, Unrequited Love, character regression, pokemon xy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27997257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TidalDragon/pseuds/TidalDragon
Summary: Aria. (n) an elaborate melody sung solo with accompaniment.
Relationships: Elle | Aria/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum/Serena
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Next Time We Meet

She was a queen from birth. Her tiara signaled not only her preeminence but a prophecy fulfilled. Greatness named became greatness proclaimed as she danced and soared, propelled by the notes and measures her partners created. She was harmony in motion, driving people to feel things that only she could elicit.

I merely balanced a system.

 _Esse quam videri_.

I was inherently lacking.

There was a time I believed I’d grown into the genuine article. It’s not everyone who manages to achieve their dream – a title, acclaim, a pedestal of their own – not everyone manages to capture even a shred of theirs. But just because you realize one doesn’t grant you the others, no matter how mundane. It is mundane, the dream of love. And yet it is always the deepest. It does not discriminate based on title, wealth, or power, but _against_ them because in the face of love realized, each and all of them pale in comparison.

It was fitting really, the way our titles differed. Queens and Champions were the essence of exceptionalism. Top Coordinator? A boring honorific befitting someone who was neither an exceptional performer nor elite fighter. It felt so important at the time but now…I’d happily surrender it.

_You’ll like the kind of person I’ve grown into._

He did. He liked me. He was proud of me – excited, encouraging, and enthusiastic. But he’d always been those things. A title didn’t change that. I wasn’t the same girl too afraid to say my piece anymore, but I was the girl who waited too long to say it. It was a new reason to keep my mouth shut.

I’d kissed him, yes, but only when it was safe, knowing that I wouldn’t have to live with the consequences anytime soon. I should’ve done it sooner, said something sooner – after all I was the one who had a direction, a plan, a purpose. It could’ve been _his_ turn to follow _me_.

Instead, after a year home in Kanto, he came back to make Kalos home instead. I wasn’t there. She was. Did it really matter? Who could blame him for choosing her over me?

I was surprised to find him setting up his own gym instead of mounting a title defense, but winning it was his goal, not defending it. He’d set up in Aquacorde Town of all places and his badge was quickly certified by the league’s powers-that-be. They wanted to create a network of gyms that would allow trainers to pick and choose their battles to earn the eight they needed to join the league – or to earn them all for a better shot at winning in a new seeding system. The name – the Combo Badge – was as dull the names Clemont gave his inventions, but Ash ran the first and only mixed-type gym in Kalos so it at least made sense.

He had a new mission – a new dream he called it – to not only give trainers a good fight before they earned their badge but also to teach. He didn’t just teach through battle and its aftermath though. Instead he took on understudies – as many as two for as long as three months – something unheard of outside the realm of performing. He was like a short-term Palermo who, when I left, took Shauna under her wing. He liked the comparison.

He seemed almost nostalgic when talking about the site he’d chosen. He gave plenty of reasons: it was off the beaten trail, there was a river, a forest, and rolling plains, it was still reachable directly from major cities – but I could tell it was never the real one. It was the first lie he ever told me.

* * *

“You’re not the only one things didn’t work out for,” said Clemont as he fiddled with his latest contraption.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. From everything I can see you’re doing great.”

He called up a message on his Pokedex. He’d lost Lilia.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Then stop feeling so sorry for yourself.”

I sighed. “Why did Ash set up his gym in Aquacorde Town?”

Clemont paused, setting down the ratchet he was using to tighten a bolt on the back panel. “You really don’t know?”

* * *

It was late summer when I stopped for a night in Coumarine City. The latest leg of my trip left me exhausted from traveling on the dry road day after day in the searing heat. I’d taken the same path with our old group but alone it was different. As it happened, it was the weekend of the showcase and I could barely get a room. No one wanted to arrive the day of the event – they wanted the best seats for watching the two favorites, Shauna and Miette, and of course _her_ special guest performance. I seemed to find her shadow everywhere.

I wondered if Ash would be there. He was a gym leader but he was also _hers_ and the only reason I’d missed her before was that she was out shopping for the day – groceries. He’d shown me a picture of the two of them. He wore the confident grin I adored and she poked her head over his shoulder wearing the same glasses she had been when we’d first met her as Arianna. Her smile shone as she winked at the camera, her arms framing their heads like she did in her routines.

They were happy. So unbelievably happy.

Since I was already there I decided to take things in. I could catch up with Shauna and given that Ash was decidedly off the market there was a chance I might actually enjoy seeing Miette. Of course, I was also curious about the advertising. Normally she featured alone but for some reason Ash was with her on the screens and sandwich boards. He was slightly faded and most definitely in the background but most definitely there.

“Why is Ash in ads for the showcase?” I asked.

Shauna and Miette exchanged looks. “You really don’t know?”

I shook my head and Miette smirked, leaving Shauna to answer. “They’re performing together of course!”

“ _Performing together?_ ”

“Of course,” Miette chirped, “they were both inspired by your performances in Hoenn and thought it might be fun to try themselves. Imagine, a champion directing his pokemon in service of his queen…” She winked.

Shauna smiled. “I can’t wait to see it! Four pokemon in one performance! The balance, the choreography…they must have worked so hard together!”

The crowd loved it.

Pierre cried out. “Another sensational performance by _Aria_ , our Kalos Queen!”

Aria. Aria. _Aria_. I couldn’t stop hearing her name.

* * *

She was down-to-earth. A fifth title in hand, she quietly traded her tiara for trousers – a graceful exit yielding an open throne. Still she inspired. Irresistible. She defied the law of gravity.

 _You two are so alike_.

So alike. Caring. Determined. Exuberant. And yet it all came naturally to her. I fought being shy for years. It was only Ash – no. It hurt to admit but it also came from her. They made me determined where I used to be weak. About all I could do before them was pick a cute hat and bake a good pokepuff.

And there was Ash. We both loved Ash.

 _She has something you don’t_.

Confidence. When she set her mind to something she knew she could do it – _would_ do it. She owned the stage, everything picture perfect on and off it. Even he drew confidence from her that night at the dance. He’d danced horribly with Miette – not that I cared – even though Pierre praised Miette’s movement. But with her…it took just a smile and an encouraging word to transform him. She led me straight to the final performance in just a day.

I was so close.

Almost.

I was always almost.

There would always been Hoenn, but what had that given me? One win caused the greatest loss.

* * *

We were alone by the fire pit outside his gym, everyone else having turned in.

“Why did you really build your gym here?”

“Serena…”

“Why?”

He looked at me but I couldn’t see his eyes behind the dancing flames that separated us. “Thanks for these,” he said, taking a bite from my latest batch of pokepuffs.

I nodded. For a moment I could manage a small smile – then I remembered the young girl who kept her mouth shut.

“So…“

He shook his head. “It was a long time ago.”

“It’s only been three years.”

“Look at a map.”

I didn’t need a pokedex. “Vani–”

Before I could finish she was back, sitting down on his lap and giving him a kiss. “What are you two up to all alone?”

“Nothing,” he said before returning her affection.

She laughed and stood up extending a hand to him. “Coming?”

“Yeah. It’s late.”

“Too late,” she agreed. “Serena?”

“I’ll get the fire,” I offered, picking up the metal bucket.

Her wink. “Thanks!”

They walked inside, his arm wrapped around her back, her head leaning on his shoulder.

The water killed the flames, but I waited on the embers for a moment. Wisps of smoke slinked up into the night sky and I looked back into the pit.

Nothing.

 **A/N** : **This is my first attempt at a Pokefic which is based on the anime**. **While I’m normally all aboard the Ash/Serena train, I find Ash/Aria an interesting pairing and so I wanted to explore them from Serena’s perspective**. **I may write a happier Ash/Aria fic at some point in the future, either filling in the missing years between Serena’s departure and returns in this universe or through a different lens**.

**Obviously this is AU that pretty much slashes out everything after XYZ. Character ages have been poorly defined throughout the series but without going into my detailed basis for the ones I’m using, I’ve pegged Ash, Miette, and Serena at twenty, Shauna at 16, and Aria and Clemont at 22 after the three years passage between the end of XYZ and this story.**

**Esse quam videri is Latin for ‘to be rather than to seem’**

**The rest of the italicized phrases are quotes from various episodes of XY and XYZ.**

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is my first attempt at a Pokefic which is based on the anime. While I’m normally all aboard the Ash/Serena train, I find Ash/Aria an interesting pairing and so I wanted to explore them from Serena’s perspective. I may write a happier Ash/Aria fic at some point in the future, either filling in the missing years between Serena’s departure and returns in this universe or through a different lens.
> 
> Obviously this is AU that pretty much slashes out everything after XYZ. Character ages have been poorly defined throughout the series but without going into my detailed basis for the ones I’m using, I’ve pegged Ash, Miette, and Serena at twenty, Shauna at sixteen, and Aria and Clemont at twenty-two after the three years passage between the end of XYZ and this story.
> 
> Esse quam videri is Latin for ‘to be rather than to seem’
> 
> The rest of the italicized phrases are quotes from various episodes of XY and XYZ.


End file.
